Clinton pond search draws attention

No searchers appeared today at Mossy Pond after two days of police work at Blueberry Island for what residents said was a search for a body in connection with a 20-year-old case.

The rural area was quiet today.

Until Thursday and Friday, Joseph D. Milton said in the year he has been building his and his fiancée's split-level home at 127 Pine St., he hasn't see one police car on the road that ends at a cul-de-sac abutting Mossy Pond.

State police assigned to the Worcester district attorney's office spent part of Thursday and all day Friday searching Blueberry Island at the pond. The state police were assisted by Clinton and Fitchburg police.

The nature of the search was not revealed Friday by the district attorney's office, which would confirm only that the office had “initiated an investigation in Clinton.”

“Based on the information investigators currently possess there is no immediate threat to anyone within the area,” Timothy Connolly, spokesman for the district attorney, said late Friday night in a press release.

No new information was released today by the DA's office.

Mr. Milton's property leads right up to the pond, and the island is visible from his back yard.

He said state police launched an airboat off South Meadow Road into the pond to get to the island both days of the search. They searched the island with dogs and were digging with shovels, he said.

“They got here around noontime (Thursday) and they were back again this morning,” Mr. Milton said around 6:30 p.m. Friday. Both days of the search, he was outside digging and pouring concrete in his back yard with the help of around a half dozen of his buddies for footings for a new deck.

“They just left around an hour ago,” he said.

He said police at first told him they were only doing some training.

“They started doing some digging, and we saw some equipment,” he said. “They started leading on to us they were doing an investigation, and left it at that. We knew it was a little more than training.”

He and his buddies said they heard police were searching for a body from a murder 20 years ago.

“My fiancée was a little freaked out,” Mr. Milton said. “She doesn't like the pond as it is, and now she really has a problem with it.”

He said the thought of there possibly being a body on the island creeped him out a little, too. The area is usually quiet, and the pond is a peaceful fishing spot for bass, trout and pickerel for residents living around it, he said.

“The odd part is we were hanging out there all summer long,” he said.

Paul M. Curran, who lives in the neighborhood, said, “I heard it was for a 20-year-old murder and they got some information there was a body down there.”

Mr. Curran said his German shepherd, Rooney, was curious about the helicopters from the news media flying over the area all day and the activity on the island.

Ronald Cavanaugh, of 72 Pine St., walked down with a friend just before dusk to check out what was going on.

“Looks like somebody told somebody something,” he said. “Someone must be missing. They don't do all this for nothing. I just hope justice is done.”

Contact Paula Owen at powen@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG.